Audi's Stadler remains in jail after court rejects appeal

Stadler is being held in pretrial detention on suspicion of trying to influence witnesses in an emissions investigation.

FRANKFURT -- Audi's Rupert Stadler will remain in custody after a Munich court rejected an appeal by the executive to be released.

Stadler was arrested in June over allegations that he tried to tamper with evidence in the diesel-emissions cheating scandal at Audi and its parent, Volkswagen Group.

He is being detained at a prison in the southern German city of Augsburg.

In a statement, the court said that Stadler remained under suspicion and despite knowledge of emission-software manipulation he allowed the continued use and sale of affected Audi diesel models.

Stadler, 55, had initially cooperated with prosecutors but has since ceased to give statements, prosecutors said in July. The executive, who had served as Audi CEO since 2007, was temporarily released from his duties with the automaker following his arrest. Audi named Bram Schot as interim CEO.

VW Group has lined up BMW purchasing director Markus Duesmann to take the helm at Audi on January 1, 2019, according to sources who spoke with Automotive News Europe sister publication Automobilwoche.

Stadler is the highest-ranking VW Group executive to be arrest since the company admitted in September 2015 that it had rigged 11 million vehicles worldwide to bypass emissions tests. The automaker has rejected claims that top executives, including Stadler, were aware of the cheating on emissions tests.